If you were given a chance to aim the camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter and take a picture of something on the red planet, what would you shoot?

Now we know, after NASA released today the first picture selected
from hundreds of public suggestions. The photo reveals a thick layer of
dust blanketing the floor and wall of the summit crater atop a tall
volcano called Pavonis Mons.

"It's such a thrill to see it," said U.S. Marine Lance Corporal
Robert F. Sanders, of Jacksonville, N.C., who suggested the crater close
up as a photo target for the Mars Global Surveyor camera. "I spent hours
coming up with suggestions, but I didn't know whether any of them
would be accepted."

The resulting picture shows details as small as a large SUV in a
strip of ground about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long within the
summit crater of Pavonis Mons.

"We've received hundreds of really good ideas since we began
accepting public suggestions last month," said Dr. Ken Edgett, staff
scientist for Malin Space Science Systems, which operates the Mars
Orbital Camera. "We were excited last week, when the predicted
ground track intersected a publicly suggested location for the
first time." Accepted targets are not imaged until the spacecraft's
regular orbiting pattern goes directly over them.

The camera on Mars Global Surveyor has returned more than 120,000
pictures since the spacecraft began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. Still,
its high-resolution images have covered only about three percent of the
planet's surface. Three percent of Mars, while seemingly small, represents
a huge amount of "real estate," or nearly 5 million square kilometers
(about 3 million square miles), that has been observed at spectacular resolution.

Information about how to submit suggestions is available on the
Internet at the Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at
http://www.msss.com/plan/intro.

"Taking public suggestions enhances the science return," Edgett said.
"Every suggestion we get has the potential for discovery."

"As Mars Global Surveyor continues its legacy of SUV-scale exploration,
we're excited to offer for the first time an innovative approach for direct
public participation in Mars exploration," said Dr. Jim Garvin, NASA's lead
scientist for Mars. "Increasing the breadth of science activities, by
working together with the public to uncover the mysteries of Mars, is
an important part of NASA's mission to inspire the next generation of explorers."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Office of Space Science in
Washington. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver, which developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space
Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the
Mars Orbiter Camera. Malin Space Science Systems operates the camera
from facilities in San Diego.